


Mind

by MountainRose



Series: Perspectives [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Introspection, cognivite modeling, neuroscience, the hulk - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-09
Updated: 2013-11-09
Packaged: 2017-12-31 23:15:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1037554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MountainRose/pseuds/MountainRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce's picked up a few ways of thinking about mind, over the years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mind

You're standing at the fridge, looking inside.

No, really, stay with me; its a good analogy.

You're standing at the fridge, looking a the food and thinking nothing at all. You know you want something, but you don't know what it is. If you see it, you'll reach out and take it, but you don't know which cupboard to look in, so there you are, staring into the refrigerator.

That's ‘system one’.

System one is your brain without words. It’s the part that says yes/no/want/don't when you ask yourself 'do I feel like pizza?' Or 'shall I watch newsnight or cartoons?'

The questions, those are ‘system two’. Laid on the top of the mind we share with other mammals, there's this mesh of logic that let's us imagine scenarios that don't exist yet and make decisions on the basis of conditions that we predict will arise. System two imagines pizza, and the system one takes that concept and goes yes/want/hungry/get.

The Hulk doesn't have system two.

So if I want to break something, I say 'no, it'd have x, y, z consequences', because system two let's me think on that level. But when the other guy comes out, all that gets burned away, and all I am, all he is, is system one. No post-processing, no clever adjustments of behaviour in response to details of circumstance.

All he has to make decisions with, are the stimulus-response chains buried in our brain. And most of those...

Well, my childhood wasn't great. Let's leave it at that.

But the thing is, system two is _expensive_. Using it to train system one is possible, most people have done it at some point, with something like making yourself drink beer until you learn to like it. But, _but,_ it's costly. It takes cognitive effort on a massive scale. If you've got a path of least resistance, you can do it; the social pressure to drink beer is enough of a motivator to keep you trying, for example, but if you really don't like beer? Well, it's gonna take effort.

I really, really don't like being the victim.

I can't train system one to not fight back.

I can't train the Hulk to hide instead of smash.

It is just not going to happen.

But theres this guy, complete idiot, biggest system two I've ever seen. Runs around in a metal suit, because his system one saw something he didn't like, and system two decided to turn his life around.

And then there's our leader, biggest, kindest system one the world has seen in a hundred years; he's all heart and instinct, because he knows, on a visceral level, how to listen to system one. His system two's a bit messed up; some idiots in the military filled it with the idea of following orders, and the he got frozen for seventy years. We don't blame him.

Thor, Clint, Natasha? They're pretty balanced; good people, healthy minds despite their lifestyles.

I like them.

'Like' is system one.

The Hulk likes them too, its... More than I had ever hoped for.

That's not to say you can't hurt someone you like. System one is thick as two planks, and might drop a building on someone's head. For me that's not metaphorical, and it scares me.

Scares the Hulk too. Keeps us safe to be around.

****

But let me tell you a secret... The reason keeping the Hulk inside is difficult? Nothing to do with overwhelming power, unstoppable force, and everything to do with the fact that every day, every human being on this planet stops using system two occasionally. Its not evolved for constant activity, we make decisions without it all the time. They might not be good decisions, like eating that extra sandwich, despite your diet plan, but you can still act and live and exist.

If I stop using system two...? Well...

Best not to risk it, right?

 


End file.
